Increased foreign investment in hospitals set to boost healthcare

陈小将

Further opening-up of China's medical sector to foreign investment is expected to promote high-quality services and better meet wider public healthcare needs, experts said.

A circular, jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce, the National Health Commission and the National Medical Products Administration in September, allows wholly foreign-owned hospitals to operate in eight cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, and throughout the island of Hainan.

Decision-makers intend for public hospitals to guarantee the basics, while foreign-owned ones provide diversified services to meet the rising demand for more personalized, higher-standard medical treatment amid the country's ongoing economic and social development, industry experts said.

"Accounting for the dominant 80 percent of the country's total medical services, public hospitals stick to their priority of answering the demands of public welfare," said Liao Xinbo, former deputy director of Guangdong's Health Commission. "The spillover functions of public hospitals that are difficult to support through public medical insurance can be met wholly by foreign-funded medical institutions," Liao added.

These other functions include the use of advanced technologies and innovative therapies, and medical treatment usually done overseas, he said.

The market size of Chinese patients who travel overseas for medical treatment exceeded 3 billion yuan ($420 million) in 2019, and surpassed 4 billion yuan within three years, according to a report released by Insight and Info, a Chinese portal specializing in industry analysis.

Developed countries, such as the United States and Japan, were the main medical travel destinations, the report said.